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Al, you've missed a little of my point. With Nemo, if not with others, gksudo not required, from Terminal, to start the app.

I fully understand your point. I think you may have missed mine though. It's not just Nemo, all applications can be started as root.

Consider that sudo is not required to start terminal based applications with root privileges, because they can all be started as root too. For example instead of using "sudo apt-get," you could use "apt-get" as root.

But the point of using sudo, gksudo and kdesudo, is that it's safer than using root.

Mate no offence, you should know me by now. We could debate this until the cows come home, but I've gotta go soon.

Topic Title

Starting applications from the terminal in Ubuntu based distributions

Also

To start GUI applications from the terminal with root permissions, sudo must not be used. Using sudo to start GUI applications has the potential to change file ownership permissions. On most desktops the command used in place of sudo to start GUI applications, is gksudo. For example to start Nautilus from the terminal with root permissions, type: gksudo nautilus

On KDE, it's kdesudo. For example to start Dolphin on KDE with root permissions, type:

kdesudo dolphin

And finally

The (safer) alternative in Linux Mint is gksudo.

You DON'T need gksudo, in the examples I have quoted from Linux Mint, the apps can be fired up using normal (superuser) privileges.

Just

caja

... for Qiana, and

nemo

... for Rafaela.

I am not trying to pick holes in your Tutorial, but wishing to add to it with current information. I know you would want that.

And as said above, I don't advocate using Root unless you are experienced.

There really isn't ever much need to drop directly to the root shell. Anything that needs root privileges can be run using "sudo", and is usually the better way to do things. Keeps you from accidentally messing things up. I drop to the root shell on occasion to do certain things that need root access, but mostly cause I am lazy and don't feel like typing in the password a bunch of times. But I also know (mostly) what I am doing and how to undo things. At work we actually have user groups that have certain sudo rights they can perform. Can be kind of frustrating at times when it would be really helpful to have root rights...( only admins have them) but I know that wouldn't be viable option since there is no way to track what is being dove via root. Anyway, in the long about way, I agree with Nick and AI.

From a security perspective, this is a bad idea for newcomers to Linux to run across & implement globally.

Sure, it can be done, yet only in an environment where the ones performing these actions are Linux users with experience & fully understands the consequences should anything go wrong. There is a reason 'why' we have to type in that sudo password when called for, and I'm not about to do what it stands for, bypassing a huge part of our robust inbuilt security to gain a few seconds here & there.

If one really needs to shave some time to make thing faster, a small investment in a SSD will go a long ways, w/out placing one's security in jeopardy.

Am an 100% agreeance with this post by TsVk!

If you are going to be running your applications as root you might as well just load up Windows as your primary OS and be done with it.... lol

Since it was the OS most of us came from, then the ground will become familiar fast, including all of the needed maintenance, and forking cash every year for a license to a security suite, plus MBAM to catch the nasties that the security doesn't catch. Oh, and our privacy, for those who has ran Linux exclusively for a year or more, it's became worse, a new Microsoft Services Agreement took place beginning August 01, 2015 & another is on the way, though can't seem to find that at the moment, will edit when I do.

EDIT: Though I can't find the other at the moment, it has to do with OneDrive & was a popup when I opened my email this morning. Any content on the site in 'Groups' will be deleted. Here's a link with the info & another to correct the issue before content becomes permanently deleted on 09/30/2015.

I prefer root to Sudo for regular system administration tasks, as I see no security benifit to Sudo usage in that senario. Sudo can be a highly useful tool for performing tasks as another user, but when it comes to Sudo versus Root security, I find Sudo is most useful in situations where one wishes to do something insecure. I think the main reason why some distros enforce Sudo usage is to prevent beginners from staying in root, much like many Windows users stay in Administrative accounts. I think helping the user become more knowledgable about safe practices is a better defense.